So heres a thought for all of you. If Sheva wasn't Chris's partner in the game, and acted as a third wheel support; what would that make Chris?

RE4 LEON!!!

I like Re4 Leon but a lot of people don't because he is "Mary Sue" like. If Chris did not have a partner the ENTIRE game, then he would have been the same as Leon in Re4.

Sure you could have Chris's partner a character from the past, but PLOT-wise do any of them fit as well as an african native?

^How does that even make sense?

How would not having a partner suddenly make Chris a mary-sue? I'm not sure you know what a Mary-Sue is.

A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".

This describes Leon in RE4 very well. I don't see Chris playing to that bill.

Not to mention, the male version of a Mary-Sue is actually a Marty-Stu. Just sayin. :-)

And pretty much, everything has already been stated in terms of reasoning why Sheva is a fitting type for this game.

Imagine if everything Chris did in Re5 was solo. You don't think he would be like Leon in Re4. Don't compare personality so much but more of an unbelivable hero. Fighting off hordes of majini, reapers, exectioner majini's, nedsu, questioning irving, saving jill (single handedly), and killing Wesker doesn't resembe Leon in Re4 to you? Also there would be no Josh for support.

What i was trying to say is a lot of people didn't like Leon in Re4 becasue of all the "unrealistic" stuff he did. If Chris didn't have a partner in this game he would have done as much "unrealistic" things as Leon did in Re4. Point being Chris needed a partner in this game.


Note: Please let's not debate the "realistic" or "unrealistic" actions of the two male heros. Simply that their adventures are alike in many ways.

I look forward to your response ikari. Please don't make it to long. lol.

That kind of logic makes no sense either because Chris, Jill and the others have been doing the 'solo' routine against hordes of undead and monsters for numerous games already, yet none of them were 'Mary-Sue' type characters. Even Leon in RE2 was not a Mary-Sue.

In fact, nearly every game/movie out there takes for granted the idea of one main character taking on a legion of evil foes and beating them either by themselves or with only slight assistance from other supporting characters. So Solo Chris fighting off all the monsters and Wesker etc. wouldn't turn him into a Mary-Sue or cause any problems. If they had intended to turn him into another Leon type of character, they would have done it in RE5 regardless of whether Sheva was present or not. However, they didn't, they left Chris almost exactly the same as he's always been and therefore I'm confident the single player would have treated him just the same.

Again, re-read the definition of a Mary-Sue I posted above. That is exactly why people have a problem with RE4 Leon. It has nothing to do with him being able to fight all the monsters on his own.

I dislike Sheva, and it is 100% due to Capcom forcing her in the game for a forced co-op experience. Her existence actually feels like it was last-minute. Chris has spent all these years training and roiding up to make himself more efficient in a battle against Wesker, and this 5'3'' chick suddenly appears out of nowhere with the same strength and abilities as Chris. It simply makes no sense.

It's not even so much that I dislike her character, as her back story is interesting. So maybe my opinion of her is a bit unfair. I believe that Sheva was in the game in earlier development, but was not playable and had a role similar to several of the BSAA members (like Josh, perhaps?) But in the final game, her comments and pure existence as Chris's new "partner" just felt so un-Resident Evil (and before anyone asks, no, I am not a Jill fanboy). Hell, the same "forced" un-RE feel goes for Irving and Excella as villains, too.

At first I hoped that RE5 would feel like the second half of CVX, with Chris going in solo to finally stop Wesker. I would have loved this; Chris, the "man on a mission," and I'm not even a huge fan of Chris! The reason that a Chris solo RE5 would have worked is that Chris has done solo stuff before (e.g. CVX), and what made him persevere in the past was his love for his sister. This time, it would have been his love for his partner. RE4 (as much as I love it) felt odd because the last time any of us had seen Leon, he was a green cop who escaped Raccoon City by pure luck. But then out of nowhere he was a secret agent one-liner spewing action hero. Chris, on the other hand, always was an action hero type; he knew what he was doing since the beginning.

So while I believe most of RE5 felt forced and unnatural, Sheva was easily the core of the problem. Having to watch her back all the time while playing single-player (the way an RE game should be played, unless we're talking about the Outbreaks) was a general nuisance. And as stated before, her mere presence sucked the Resident Evil "feel" out of the majority of the game for me. Hell, the only part of the game that I felt even a little nostalgia in was the engine room section, which reminded me of the CVX ending with stuff blowing up and the awesome music (which had that epic feel reminiscent of "The Code is Veronica.") And yet I'd be distracted from the awesomeness by having to babysit someone who still, even under my watchful eyes, manages to get impaled by a reaper.

So that's the end of my rant. If anyone else has any contradictory opinions, I'd love to hear them!

^ You know, as odd as it sounds, I can actually see what this poster is saying. As much as I defend Sheva, she reallly isn't even close to being one of my favorite characters. In fact, as I've probably said, I'm a Chris/Jill "fanboy." Hell, for some odd reason, Josh is actually one of my favorite characters in the series. But I mainly prefer Jill/Chris because of the fact that these two have the most vested in the entire series. They've been through the most and have endured more tribulations than any other character I'd say. I never really play RE1/REmake first. Leon from RE2 took my RE virginity. But I was mainly drawn to these two characters the most, even though RE1/REmake was like the 4th game I played in the series.

And while having Chris go solo would have been a great, I think co-op really does add to this experience. The AI does leave a bit to be desired, but I always found it serviceable. However, it will never make sense to me how there are very few distinguishing factors between Sheva and Chris. For one, I will never understand how both characters can fire an AKS-74u and a Desert Eagle almost exactly alike. I wish they had differeniating characteristics like in REmake. Chris was better at handling firearm and was more physically capable for instance. There is no way Sheva can handle a 50 calibre pistol or an SVD exactly the same as how a 6 foot hulk like Chris can. On the flip side, considering Chris' size, he shouldn't be able to run as quickly as Sheva can, and he should be able to take more damage as well. I know I went off on a tangent, but I just felt like posting that for some reason. :)

Not entirely. There are some subtle differences between the two. For instance, Sheva climbs up ledges and gets up from a fall quicker than Chris. And if you use the "jump down" command, the females seem to have a slightly longer recovery animation once they hit the ground. Not to mention, Chris uses a Hydra with one hand, while Sheva uses both (about the only gun where there is a difference).

Seriously, I thought it was really cool how Chris and Jill had noticeable differences when you played them. For instance, Jill couldn't handle a .357 magnum as well as Chris could. It's a tad ridiculous that Sheva can use a bigger bore magnum on par with Chris. Also, the recoil pattern for both characters when using an automatic weapon is exactly the same. Call me sexist if you like, but it simply not possible given Sheva's weight compared to Chris' (not to mention Chris being a decorated firearms expert). Hell, the M9 should be a pea shooter to Chris (akin to Shaquille O' Neal palming a tennis ball). Yet both characters handle it the same. From my experience, the M9 does have some weight to it, and some recoil. I know it's a minor gripe, but things like this always sorta bug me.